Boswell's Life of Johnson

These selections from James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson,
LL.D. are for use in my classes. The text comes from R. W.
Chapman's 1904 Oxford edition; the page numbers correspond to
those in the Oxford World's Classic edition. I have removed all
footnotes, both those by Boswell and by other editors. Please
send comments and corrections to Jack
Lynch.

[Pages 579-82]

[1] What words were
used by Mr. Macpherson in his letter to the venerable Sage, I
have never heard; but they are generally said to have been of a
nature very different from the language of literary contest.
Dr. Johnson's answer appeared in the news-papers of the day,
and has since been frequently republished; but not with perfect
accuracy. I give it as dictated to me by himself, written down
in his presence, and authenticated by a note in his own
handwriting, "This, I think, is a true copy.”

“MR. JAMES
MACPHERSON.
“I RECEIVED your foolish and impudent letter. Any
violence offered me I shall do my best to repel; and what I
cannot do for myself, the law shall do for me. I hope I shall
never be deterred from detecting what I think a cheat, by the
menaces of a ruffian.
“What would you have me retract? I thought your book an
imposture; I think it an imposture still. For this opinion I
have given my reasons to the publick, which I here dare you to
refute. Your rage I defy. Your abilities, since your Homer, are
not so formidable; and what I hear of your morals inclines me to
pay regard not to what you shall say, but to what you shall
prove. You may print this if you will.
“SAM. Johnson.”

[2] Mr. Macpherson
little knew the character of Dr. Johnson, if he supposed that he
could be easily intimidated; for no man was ever more remarkable
for personal courage. He had, indeed, an awful dread of death,
or rather, “of something after death”; and what rational man,
who seriously thinks of quitting all that he has ever known, and
going into a new and unknown state of being, can be without that
dread? But his fear was from reflection; his courage natural.
His fear, in that one instance, was the result of philosophical
and religious consideration. He feared death, but he feared
nothing else, not even what might occasion death. Many instances
of his resolution may be mentioned. One day, at Mr. Beauclerk's
house in the country, when two large dogs were fighting, he went
up to them, and beat them till they separated; and at another
time, when told of the danger there was that a gun might burst
if charged with many balls, he put in six or seven and fired it
off against a wall. Mr. Langton told me, that when they were
swimming together near Oxford, he cautioned Dr. Johnson against
a pool, which was reckoned particularly dangerous; upon which
Johnson directly swam into it. He told me himself that one night
he was attacked in the street by four men, to whom he would not
yield, but kept them all at bay, till the watch came up, and
carried both him and them to the round-house. In the play-house
at Lichfield, as Mr. Garrick informed me, Johnson having for a
moment quitted a chair which was placed for him between the
side-scenes, a gentleman took possession of it, and when Johnson
on his return civilly demanded his seat, rudely refused to give
it up; upon which Johnson laid hold of it, and tossed him and
the chair into the pit. Foote, who so successfully revived the
old comedy, by exhibiting living characters, had resolved to
imitate Johnson on the stage, expecting great profits from his
ridicule of so celebrated a man. Johnson being informed of his
intention, and being at dinner at Mr. Thomas Davies's the
bookseller, from whom I had the story, he asked Mr. Davies “what
was the common price of an oak stick”; and being answered
six-pence, “Why then, Sir, (said he,) give me leave to send your
servant to purchase me a shilling one. I'll have a double
quantity; for I am told Foote means to take me off, as he
calls is, and I am determined the fellow shall not do it with
impunity.” Davies took care to acquaint Foote of this, which
effectually checked the wantonness of the mimick. Mr.
Macpherson's menaces made Johnson provide himself with the same
implement of defence; and had he been attacked, I have no doubt
that, old as he was, he would have made his corporal prowess be
felt as much as his intellectual.

[3] His “Journey to
the Western Islands of Scotland,” is a most valuable
performance. It abounds in extensive philosophical views of
society, and in ingenious sentiment and lively description. A
considerable part of it; indeed, consists of speculations, which
many years before he saw the wild regions which we visited
together, probably had employed his attention, though the actual
sight of those scenes undoubtedly quickened and augmented them.
Mr. Orme, the very able historian, agreed with me in this
opinion, which he thus strongly expressed:  “There are in
that book thoughts, which, by long revolution in the great mind
of Johnson, have been formed and polished like pebbles rolled in
the ocean!”

[4] That he was to
some degree of excess a true-born Englishman, so as to
have entertained an undue prejudice against both the country and
the people of Scotland, must be allowed. But it was a prejudice
of the head and not of the heart. He had no ill will to the
Scotch; for, if he had been conscious of that, he never would
have thrown himself into the bosom of their country, and trusted
to the protection of its remote inhabitants with a fearless
confidence. His remark upon the nakedness of the country, from
its being denuded of trees, was made after having travelled two
hundred miles along the Eastern coast, where certainly trees are
not to be found near the road; and he said it was “a map of the
road” which he gave. His disbelief of the authenticity of the
poems ascribed to Ossian, a Highland bard, was confirmed in the
course of his journey, by a very strict examination of the
evidence offered for it; and although their authenticity was
made too much a national point by the Scotch, there were many
respectable persons in that country, who did not concur in
this: so that his judgement upon the question ought not to be
decried, even by those who differ from him. As to myself, I can
only say, upon a subject now become very uninteresting, that
when the fragments of Highland poetry first came out, I was much
pleased with their wild peculiarity, and was one of those who
subscribed to enable their editor, Mr. Macpherson, then a young
man, to make a search in the Highlands and Hebrides for a long
poem in the Erse language, which was reported to be preserved
somewhere in those regions. But when there came forth an Epick
Poem in six books, with all the common circumstances of former
compositions of that nature; and when, upon an attentive
examination of it, there was found a perpetual recurrence of the
same images which appear in the fragments; and when no ancient
manuscript, to authenticate the work, was deposited in any
publick library, though that was insisted on as a reasonable
proof, who could forbear to doubt?

[5] Johnson's
grateful acknowledgements of kindness received in the course of
this tour, completely refute the brutal reflections which have
been thrown out against him, as if he had made an ungrateful
return; and his delicacy in sparing in his book those who we
find from his letters to Mrs. Thrale, were just objects of
censure, is much to be admired. His candour and amiable
disposition is conspicuous from his conduct, when informed by
Mr. Macleod, of Rasay, that he had committed a mistake, which
gave that gentleman some uneasiness. He wrote him a courteous
and kind letter, and inserted in the news-papers an
advertisement, correcting the mistake.